Spiker hired as Army hoops coach

Oct 3, 2009 - 3:11 PM WEST POINT, N.Y.(AP) -- Zach Spiker has been hired as men's basketball coach at Army.

Spiker has served as an assistant at Cornell under Steve Donahue and helped the Big Red to upper-division finishes in the Ivy League each of his five seasons there.

Spiker was involved in recruiting at Cornell, which won consecutive Ivy League titles the past two seasons, including a 14-0 conference mark in 2007-08. It was the first back-to-back league titles for Cornell in school history, and the first time a team other than Penn or Princeton won consecutive Ivy League championships.

Spiker, a native of Morgantown, W.Va., also served as an administrative assistant under former coach John Beilein. Spiker replaces Jim Crews, who was fired just over a week ago after seven losing seasons.